Isolation and characterization of the two major intracellular Glut4 storage compartments.

In rat adipose cells, intracellular Glut4 resides in two distinct vesicular populations one of which contains cellugyrin whereas another lacks this protein (Kupriyanova, T. A., and Kandror, K. V. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 36263--36268). Cell surface biotinylated MPR and (125)I-labeled transferrin are accumulated in cellugyrin-positive vesicles and to a lesser extent in cellugyrin-negative vesicles. An average cellugyrin-positive vesicle carries not more than one molecule of either Glut4, insulin-responsive aminopeptidase (IRAP), or transferrin receptor (TfR), whereas cellugyrin-negative vesicles contain five to six molecules of Glut4, more than 10 molecules of IRAP, and still one molecule of TfR per vesicle. Cellugyrin-negative vesicles are translocated to the cell surface after insulin stimulation, whereas cellugyrin-positive vesicles maintain intracellular localization both in the absence and in the presence of insulin and, therefore, may be involved in interendosomal protein transport. Both cellugyrin-positive and cellugyrin-negative vesicles are present in extracts of non-homogenized cells and therefore may represent the major form of Glut4 storage in vivo.     

Insulin-mediated translocation of GLUT-4-containing vesicles is preserved in denervated muscles

Skeletal muscle denervation decreases insulin-sensitive glucose uptake into this tissue as a result of marked GLUT-4 protein downregulation ( approximately 20% of controls). The process of insulin-stimulated glucose transport in muscle requires the movement or translocation of intracellular GLUT-4-rich vesicles to the cell surface, and it is accompanied by the translocation of several additional vesicular cargo proteins. Thus examining GLUT-4 translocation in muscles from denervated animals allows us to determine whether the loss of a major cargo protein, GLUT-4, affects the insulin-dependent behavior of the remaining cargo proteins. We find no difference, control vs. denervated, in the insulin-dependent translocation of the insulin-responsive aminopeptidase (IRAP) and the receptors for transferrin and insulin-like growth factor II/mannose 6-phosphate, proteins that completely (IRAP) or partially co-localize with GLUT-4. We conclude that 1) denervation of skeletal muscle does not block the specific branch of insulin signaling pathway that connects receptor proximal events to intracellular GLUT-4-vesicles, and 2) normal levels of GLUT-4 protein are not necessary for the structural organization and insulin-sensitive translocation of its cognate intracellular compartment. Muscle denervation also causes a twofold increase in GLUT-1. In normal muscle, all GLUT-1 is present at the cell surface, but in denervated muscle a significant fraction (25.1 +/- 6.1%) of this transporter is found in intracellular vesicles that have the same sedimentation coefficient as GLUT-4-containing vesicles but can be separated from the latter by immunoadsorption. These GLUT-1-containing vesicles respond to insulin and translocate to the cell surface. Thus the formation of insulin-sensitive GLUT-1-containing vesicles in denervated muscle may be a compensatory mechanism for the decreased level of GLUT-4.     

Syntaxin 16 controls the intracellular sequestration of GLUT4 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

The regulated delivery of Glut4-containing vesicles to the plasma membrane is a specialised example of regulated membrane trafficking. Present models favour the transporter trafficking through two inter-related endosomal cycles. The first is the proto-typical endosomal system. This is a fast trafficking event that, in the absence of insulin, serves to internalise Glut4 from the plasma membrane. Once in this pathway, Glut4 is further sorted into a slowly recycling pathway that operates between recycling endosomes, the trans Golgi network, and a population of vesicles often referred to as Glut4-storage vesicles. Little is known about the molecules that regulate these distinct sorting steps. Here, we have studied the role of Stx16 in Glut4 trafficking. Using two independent strategies, we show that Stx16 plays a crucial role in Glut4 traffic in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Over-expression of a mutant form of Stx16 devoid of a transmembrane anchor was found to significantly slow the reversal of insulin-stimulated glucose transport. Depletion of Stx16 using antisense approaches profoundly reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport but was without effect on cell surface transferrin receptor levels, and also reduced the extent of Glut4 translocation to the plasma membrane in response to insulin. These data support a model in which Stx16 is crucial in the sorting of Glut4 from the fast cycling to the slow cycling intracellular trafficking pathways in adipocytes.     

A Glut4-vesicle marker protein, insulin-responsive aminopeptidase, is localized in a novel vesicular compartment in PC12 cells

Glut4-containing vesicles represent a regulated recycling compartment in insulin-sensitive fat and skeletal muscle cells, the nature and origin of which are not fully understood. In addition to Glut4 itself, these vesicles compartmentalize a number of proteins, at least one of which, insulin-responsive aminopeptidase, or IRAP, is completely colocalized with Glut4 in insulin-sensitive tissues. However, unlike Glut4, IRAP is expressed in a variety of other tissues and cell lines. Here, we explored the intracellular localization of IRAP in the rat pheochromocytoma cell line PC12. We found that this protein is present in a distinct population of slowly recycling light vesicles. By gradient centrifugations, immunoadsorption and double immunofluorescent staining, these vesicles are different from transferrin-containing endosomes, small synaptic vesicles and secretory granules and may thus represent a novel compartment in PC12 cells. Glut4-GFP chimera transiently expressed in PC12 cells is targeted to IRAP-containing vesicles indicating that cotargeting of Glut4 and IRAP is not specific for adipocytes and myocytes, but is faithful in a foreign cell type. We suggest that PC12 cells may possess a novel type of a vesicular carrier that may represent the homolog of Glut4-vesicles.     

Transport from late endosomes to lysosomes, but not sorting of integral membrane proteins in endosomes, depends on the vacuolar proton pump

Endocytosed proteins are sorted in early endosomes to be recycled to the plasma membrane or transported further into the degradative pathway. We studied the role of endosomes acidification on the endocytic trafficking of the transferrin receptor (TfR) as a representative for the recycling pathway, the cation-dependent mannose 6-phosphate receptor (MPR) as a prototype for transport to late endosomes, and fluid-phase endocytosed HRP as a marker for transport to lysosomes. Toward this purpose, bafilomycin A1 (Baf), a specific inhibitor of the vacuolar proton pump, was used to inhibit acidification of the vacuolar system. Microspectrofluorometric measurement of the pH of fluorescein-rhodamine-conjugated transferrin (Tf)-containing endocytic compartments in living cells revealed elevated endosomal pH values (pH > 7.0) within 2 min after addition of Baf. Although recycling of endocytosed Tf to the plasma membrane continued in the presence of Baf, recycled Tf did not dissociate from its receptor, indicating failure of Fe3+ release due to a neutral endosomal pH. In the presence of Baf, the rates of internalization and recycling of Tf were reduced by a factor of 1.40 +/- 0.08 and 1.57 +/- 0.25, respectively. Consequently, little if any in TfR expression at the cell surface was measured during Baf treatment. Sorting between endocytosed TfR and MPR was analyzed by the HRP-catalyzed 3,3'- diaminobenzidine cross-linking technique, using transferrin conjugated to HRP to label the endocytic pathway of the TfR. In the absence of Baf, endocytosed surface 125I-labeled MPR was sorted from the TfR pathway starting at 10 min after uptake, reaching a plateau of 40% after 45 min. In the presence of Baf, sorting was initiated after 20 min of uptake, reaching approximately 40% after 60 min. Transport of fluid-phase endocytosed HRP to late endosomes and lysosomes was measured using cell fractionation and immunogold electron microscopy. Baf did not interfere with transport of HRP to MPR-labeled late endosomes, but nearly completely abrogated transport to cathepsin D- labeled lysosomes. From these results, we conclude that trafficking through early and late endosomes, but not to lysosomes, continued upon inactivation of the vacuolar proton pump.     

Golgi-localized, gamma-ear-containing, Arf-binding protein adaptors mediate insulin-responsive trafficking of glucose transporter 4 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

Small glucose transporter 4 (Glut4)-containing vesicles represent the major insulin-responsive compartment in fat and skeletal muscle cells. The molecular mechanism of their biogenesis is not yet elucidated. Here, we studied the role of the newly discovered family of monomeric adaptor proteins, GGA (Golgi-localized, gamma-ear-containing, Arf-binding proteins), in the formation of small Glut4 vesicles and acquisition of insulin responsiveness in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In these cells, all three GGA isoforms are expressed throughout the differentiation process. In particular, GGA2 is primarily present in trans-Golgi network and endosomes where it demonstrates a significant colocalization with the recycling pool of Glut4. Using the techniques of immunoadsorption as well as glutathione-S-transferase pull-down assay we found that Glut4 vesicles (but not Glut4 per se) interact with GGA via the Vps-27, Hrs, and STAM (VHS) domain. Moreover, a dominant negative GGA mutant inhibits formation of Glut4 vesicles in vitro. To study a possible role of GGA in Glut4 traffic in the living cell, we stably expressed a dominant negative GGA mutant in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Formation of small insulin-responsive Glut4-containing vesicles and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in these cells were markedly impaired. Thus, GGA adaptors participate in the formation of the insulin-responsive vesicular compartment from the intracellular donor membranes both in vivo and in vitro.     

Identification of amino acid residues within the C terminus of the Glut4 glucose transporter that are essential for insulin-stimulated redistribution to the plasma membrane

The Glut4 glucose transporter undergoes complex insulin-regulated subcellular trafficking in adipocytes. Much effort has been expended in an attempt to identify targeting motifs within Glut4 that direct its subcellular trafficking, but an amino acid motif responsible for the targeting of the transporter to insulin-responsive intracellular compartments in the basal state or that is directly responsible for its insulin-stimulated redistribution to the plasma membrane has not yet been delineated. In this study we define amino acid residues within the C-terminal cytoplasmic tail of Glut4 that are essential for its insulin-stimulated translocation to the plasma membrane. The residues were identified based on sequence similarity (LXXLXPDEXD) between cytoplasmic domains of Glut4 and the insulin-responsive aminopeptidase (IRAP). Alteration of this putative targeting motif (IRM, insulin-responsive motif) resulted in the targeting of the bulk of the mutant Glut4 molecules to dispersed membrane vesicles that lacked detectable levels of wild-type Glut4 in either the basal or insulin-stimulated states and completely abolished the insulin-stimulated translocation of the mutant Glut4 to the plasma membrane in 3T3L1 adipocytes. The bulk of the dispersed membrane vesicles containing the IRM mutant did not contain detectable levels of any subcellular marker tested. A fraction of the total IRM mutant was also detected in a wild-type Glut4/Syntaxin 6-containing perinuclear compartment. Interestingly, mutation of the IRM sequence did not appreciably alter the subcellular trafficking of IRAP. We conclude that residues within the IRM are critical for the targeting of Glut4, but not of IRAP, to insulin-responsive intracellular membrane compartments in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.     

Characterization of insulin-responsive GLUT4 storage vesicles isolated from 3T3-L1 adipocytes

Insulin regulates glucose transport in muscle and adipose tissue by triggering the translocation of a facilitative glucose transporter, GLUT4, from an intracellular compartment to the cell surface. It has previously been suggested that GLUT4 is segregated between endosomes, the trans-Golgi network (TGN), and a postendosomal storage compartment. The aim of the present study was to isolate the GLUT4 storage compartment in order to determine the relationship of this compartment to other organelles, its components, and its presence in different cell types. A crude intracellular membrane fraction was prepared from 3T3-L1 adipocytes and subjected to iodixanol equilibrium sedimentation analysis. Two distinct GLUT4-containing vesicle peaks were resolved by this procedure. The lighter of the two peaks (peak 2) was comprised of two overlapping peaks: peak 2b contained recycling endosomal markers such as the transferrin receptor (TfR), cellubrevin, and Rab4, and peak 2a was enriched in TGN markers (syntaxin 6, the cation-dependent mannose 6-phosphate receptor, sortilin, and sialyltransferase). Peak 1 contained a significant proportion of GLUT4 with a smaller but significant amount of cellubrevin and relatively little TfR. In agreement with these data, internalized transferrin (Tf) accumulated in peak 2 but not peak 1. There was a quantitatively greater loss of GLUT4 from peak 1 than from peak 2 in response to insulin stimulation. These data, combined with the observation that GLUT4 became more sensitive to ablation with Tf-horseradish peroxidase following insulin treatment, suggest that the vesicles enriched in peak 1 are highly insulin responsive. Iodixanol gradient analysis of membranes isolated from other cell types indicated that a substantial proportion of GLUT4 was targeted to peak 1 in skeletal muscle, whereas in CHO cells most of the GLUT4 was targeted to peak 2. These results indicate that in insulin-sensitive cells GLUT4 is targeted to a subpopulation of vesicles that appear, based on their protein composition, to be a derivative of the endosome. We suggest that the biogenesis of this compartment may mediate withdrawal of GLUT4 from the recycling system and provide the basis for the marked insulin responsiveness of GLUT4 that is unique to muscle and adipocytes.     

Translocation of small preformed vesicles is responsible for the insulin activation of glucose transport in adipose cells. Evidence from the in vitro reconstitution assay

Insulin stimulates translocation of the glucose transporter isoform 4 (Glut4) from an intracellular storage compartment to the plasma membrane in fat and skeletal muscle cells. At present, the nature of the Glut4 storage compartment is unclear. According to one model, this compartment represents a population of preformed small vesicles that fuse with the plasma membrane in response to insulin stimulation. Alternatively, Glut4 may be retained in large donor membranes, and insulin stimulates the formation of transport vesicles that deliver Glut4 to the cell surface. Finally, insulin can induce plasma membrane fusion of the preformed vesicles and, also, stimulate the formation of new vesicles. In extracts of fat and skeletal muscle cells, Glut4 is predominantly found in small insulin-sensitive 60-70 S membrane vesicles that may or may not artificially derive from large donor membranes during cell homogenization. Here, we use a cell-free reconstitution assay to demonstrate that small Glut4-containing vesicles are formed from large rapidly sedimenting donor membranes in a cytosol-, ATP-, time-, and temperature-dependent fashion and, therefore, do not represent an artifact of homogenization. Thus, small insulin-responsive vesicles represent the major form of Glut4 storage in the living adipose cell. Fusion of these vesicles with the plasma membrane may be largely responsible for the primary effect of insulin on glucose transport in fat tissue. In addition, our results suggest that insulin may also stimulate the formation of Glut4 vesicles and accelerate Glut4 recycling to the plasma membrane.     

The formation of an insulin-responsive vesicular cargo compartment is an early event in 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation

Differentiating 3T3-L1 cells exhibit a dramatic increase in the rate of insulin-stimulated glucose transport during their conversion from proliferating fibroblasts to nonproliferating adipocytes. On day 3 of 3T3-L1 cell differentiation, basal glucose transport and cell surface transferrin binding are markedly diminished. This occurs concomitant with the formation of a distinct insulin-responsive vesicular pool of intracellular glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) and transferrin receptors as assessed by sucrose velocity gradients. The intracellular distribution of the insulin-responsive aminopeptidase is first readily detectable on day 3, and its gradient profile and response to insulin at this time are identical to that of GLUT1. With further time of differentiation, GLUT4 is expressed and targeted to the same insulin-responsive vesicles as the other three proteins. Our data are consistent with the notion that a distinct insulin-sensitive vesicular cargo compartment forms early during fat call differentiation and its formation precedes GLUT4 expression. The development of this compartment may result from the differentiation-dependent inhibition of constitutive GLUT1 and transferrin receptor trafficking such that there is a large increase in, or the new formation of, a population of postendosomal, insulin-responsive vesicles.     

The role of small G-proteins in the regulation of glucose transport (review).

Insulin increases the rate of glucose transport into fat and muscle cells by stimulating the translocation of intracellular Glut 4-containing vesicles to the plasma membrane. This results in a marked increase in the amount of the facilitative glucose transporter Glut 4 at the cell surface, allowing for an enhanced glucose uptake. This process requires a continuous cycling through the early endosomes, a Glut 4 specific storage compartment and the plasma membrane. The main effect of insulin is to increase the rate of Glut 4 trafficking from its specific storage compartment to the plasma membrane. The whole phenomenon involves signal transduction from the insulin receptor, vesicle trafficking (sorting and fusion processes) and actin cytoskeleton modifications, which are all supposed to require small GTPases. This review describes the potential role of the various members of the Ras, Rad, Rho, Arf and Rab families in the traffic of the Glut 4-containing vesicles.     

The role of small G-proteins in the regulation of glucose transport

Insulin increases the rate of glucose transport into fat and muscle cells by stimulating the translocation of intracellular Glut 4-containing vesicles to the plasma membrane. This results in a marked increase in the amount of the facilitative glucose transporter Glut 4 at the cell surface, allowing for an enhanced glucose uptake. This process requires a continuous cycling through the early endosomes, a Glut 4 specific storage compartment and the plasma membrane. The main effect of insulin is to increase the rate of Glut 4 trafficking from its specific storage compartment to the plasma membrane. The whole phenomenon involves signal transduction from the insulin receptor, vesicle trafficking (sorting and fusion processes) and actin cytoskeleton modifications, which are all supposed to require small GTPases. This review describes the potential role of the various members of the Ras, Rad, Rho, Arf and Rab families in the traffic of the Glut 4-containing vesicles.     

Oligomerized transferrin receptors are selectively retained by a lumenal sorting signal in a long-lived endocytic recycling compartment

Cross-linking of surface receptors results in altered receptor trafficking in the endocytic system. To better understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which receptor cross-linking affects the intracellular trafficking of both ligand and receptor, we studied the intracellular trafficking of the transferrin receptor (TfR) bound to multivalent-transferrin (Tf10) which was prepared by chemical cross- linking of transferrin (Tf). Tf10 was internalized about two times slower than Tf and was retained four times longer than Tf, without being degraded in CHO cells. The intracellular localization of Tf10 was investigated using fluorescence and electron microscopy. Tf10 was not delivered to the lysosomal pathway followed by low density lipoprotein but remained accessible to Tf in the pericentriolar endocytic recycling compartment for at least 60 min. The retained Tf10 was TfR-associated as demonstrated by a reduction in surface TfR number when cells were incubated with Tf10. The presence of Tf10 within the recycling compartment did not affect trafficking of subsequently endocytosed Tf. Retention of Tf10 within the recycling compartment did not require the cytoplasmic domain of the TfR since Tf10 exited cells with the same rate when bound to the wild-type TfR or a mutated receptor with only four amino acids in the cytoplasmic tail. Thus, cross-linking of surface receptors by a multivalent ligand acts as a lumenal retention signal within the recycling compartment. The data presented here show that the recycling compartment labeled by Tf10 is a long-lived organelle along the early endosome recycling pathway that remains fusion accessible to subsequently endocytosed Tf.     

Glut4 Is Sorted from a Rab10 GTPase-independent Constitutive Recycling Pathway into a Highly Insulin-responsive Rab10 GTPase-dependent Sequestration Pathway after Adipocyte Differentiation

The RabGAP AS160/TBC1D4 controls exocytosis of the insulin-sensitive glucose transporter Glut4 in adipocytes. Glut4 is internalized and recycled through a highly regulated secretory pathway in these cells. Glut4 also cycles through a slow constitutive endosomal pathway distinct from the fast transferrin (Tf) receptor recycling pathway. This slow constitutive pathway is the only Glut4 cycling pathway in undifferentiated fibroblasts. The α₂-macroglobulin receptor LRP1 cycles with Glut4 and the Tf receptor through all three exocytic pathways. To further characterize these pathways, the effects of knockdown of AS160 substrates on the trafficking kinetics of Glut4, LRP1, and the Tf receptor were measured in adipocytes and fibroblasts. Rab10 knockdown decreased cell surface Glut4 in insulin-stimulated adipocytes by 65%, but not in basal adipocytes or in fibroblasts. This decrease was due primarily to a 62% decrease in the rate constant of Glut4 exocytosis (k_ex), although Rab10 knockdown also caused a 1.4-fold increase in the rate constant of Glut4 endocytosis (k_en). Rab10 knockdown in adipocytes also decreased cell surface LRP1 by 30% by decreasing k_ex 30–40%. There was no effect on LRP1 trafficking in fibroblasts or on Tf receptor trafficking in either cell type. These data confirm that Rab10 is an AS160 substrate that limits exocytosis through the highly insulin-responsive specialized secretory pathway in adipocytes. They further show that the slow constitutive endosomal (fibroblast) recycling pathway is Rab10-independent. Thus, Rab10 is a marker for the specialized pathway in adipocytes. Interestingly, mathematical modeling shows that Glut4 traffics predominantly through the specialized Rab10-dependent pathway both before and after insulin stimulation.     

C2C12 myocytes lack an insulin-responsive vesicular compartment despite dexamethasone-induced GLUT4 expression

Insulin regulates the uptake of glucose into skeletal muscle and adipocytes by redistributing the tissue-specific glucose transporter GLUT4 from intracellular vesicles to the cell surface. To date, GLUT4 is the only protein involved in insulin-regulated vesicular traffic that has this tissue distribution, thus raising the possibility that its expression alone may allow formation of an insulin-responsive vesicular compartment. We show here that treatment of differentiating C2C12 myoblasts with dexamethasone, acting via the glucocorticoid receptor, causes a >or=10-fold increase in GLUT4 expression but results in no significant change in insulin-stimulated glucose transport. Signaling from the insulin receptor to its target, Akt2, and expression of the soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor-attachment protein receptor, or SNARE, proteins syntaxin 4 and vesicle-associated membrane protein are normal in dexamethasone-treated C2C12 cells. However, these cells show no insulin-dependent trafficking of the insulin-responsive aminopeptidase or the transferrin receptor, respective markers for intracellular GLUT4-rich compartments and endosomes that are insulin responsive in mature muscle and adipose cells. Therefore, these data support the hypothesis that GLUT4 expression by itself is insufficient to establish an insulin-sensitive vesicular compartment.     

Localization of transferrin receptors and insulin-like growth factor II receptors in vesicles from 3T3-L1 adipocytes that contain intracellular glucose transporters

Transferrin receptors in detergent extracts of subcellular membrane fractions prepared from 3T3-L1 adipocytes were measured by a binding assay. There was a small but significant increase (1.2-fold) in the amount of receptor in a crude plasma membrane fraction and a 40% decrease in the number of transferrin receptors in microsomal membranes prepared from insulin-treated cells, when compared with corresponding fractions from control cells. Intracellular vesicles containing insulin-responsive glucose transporters (GT) have been isolated by immunoadsorption from the microsomal fraction (Biber, J. W., and G. E. Lienhard. 1986. J. Biol. Chem. 261:16180-16184). All of the transferrin receptors in this fraction were localized in these vesicles; however, because the GT vesicles contain approximately 30-fold fewer transferrin receptors than GT, on the average only one vesicle in three contains a transferrin receptor. The binding of 125I-pentamannose 6-phosphate BSA to 3T3-L1 adipocytes at 4 degrees C was used to monitor surface insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II)/mannose 6-phosphate receptors. Exposure of cells to insulin at 37 degrees C for 5 min resulted in a 2.5-4.5-fold increase in surface receptors. There was a corresponding 20% decrease in the amount of IGF-II receptors in the microsomal membranes prepared from insulin-treated cells, as assayed by immunoblotting. Moreover, the IGF-II receptors and GT were located in the same intracellular vesicles, since antibodies to the carboxyterminal peptide of either protein immunoadsorbed vesicles containing 70-95% of both proteins initially present in the microsomal fraction. In conjunction with other studies, these results indicate that in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, three membrane proteins (the GT, the transferrin receptor, and the IGF-II receptor) respond similarly to insulin, by redistributing to the surface from intracellular compartment(s) in which they are colocalized.     

3-Methyladenine specifically inhibits retrograde transport of cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptor from the early endosome to the TGN

3-Methyladenine (3-MA), a well-known inhibitor of autophagic sequestration, can also prevent class III phosphatidylinositide (PI) 3-kinase activity, which is required for many processes in endosomal membrane trafficking. Although much is known about the effects of other PI 3-kinase inhibitors, such as wortmannin and LY294002, on endosomal membrane trafficking, little is known about those of 3-MA. Here we show that the treatment of cells with 3-MA results in a specific redistribution of the cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptor (MPR300) from the trans-Golgi network (TGN) to early/recycling endosomal compartments containing internalized transferrin. Importantly, in contrast to wortmannin and LY294002, 3-MA did not cause the enlargement of late endosomal/lysosomal compartments. The results suggest that the effect of 3-MA is restricted to the retrieval of MPR300 from early/recycling endosomes.     

Regulation of insulin-responsive aminopeptidase expression and targeting in the insulin-responsive vesicle compartment of glucose transporter isoform 4-deficient cardiomyocytes

In adipocytes and cardiac or skeletal muscle, glucose transporter isoform 4 (GLUT4) is targeted to insulin-responsive intracellular membrane vesicles (IRVs) that contain several membrane proteins, including insulin-responsive aminopeptidase (IRAP) that completely colocalizes with GLUT4 in basal and insulin-treated cells. Cardiac GLUT4 content is reduced by 65-85% in IRAP knockout mice, suggesting that IRAP may regulate the targeting or degradation of GLUT4. To determine whether GLUT4 is required for maintenance of IRAP content within IRVs, we studied the expression and cellular localization of IRAP and other GLUT4 vesicle-associated proteins, in hearts of mice with cardiac-specific deletion of GLUT4 (G4H-/-). In G4H-/- hearts, IRAP content was reduced by 60%, but the expression of other vesicle-associated proteins, namely cellugyrin, IGF-II/mannose-6-phosphate, and transferrin receptors, secretory carrier-associated membrane proteins and vesicle-associated membrane protein were unchanged. Using sucrose gradient centrifugation and cell surface biotinylation, we found that IRAP content in 50-80S vesicles where GLUT4 vesicles normally sediment was markedly depleted in G4H-/- hearts, and the remaining IRAP was found in the heavy membrane fraction. Although insulin caused a discernible increase in cell surface IRAP content of G4H-/- cardiomyocytes, cell surface IRAP remained 70% lower than insulin-stimulated controls. Immunoabsorption of intracellular vesicles with anticellugyrin antibodies revealed that IRAP content was reduced by 70% in both cellugyrin-positive and cellugyrin-negative vesicles. Endosomal recycling, as measured by transferrin receptor recycling was normal. Thus, GLUT4 and IRAP content of early endosome-derived sorting vesicles and of IRVs are coordinately regulated, and both proteins are required for maintenance of key constituents of these compartments in cardiac muscle cells in vivo.     

The glucose transporter (GLUT-4) and vesicle-associated membrane protein-2 (VAMP-2) are segregated from recycling endosomes in insulin- sensitive cells

Insulin stimulates glucose transport in adipocytes by translocation of the glucose transporter (GLUT-4) from an intracellular site to the cell surface. We have characterized different synaptobrevin/vesicle- associated membrane protein (VAMP) homologues in adipocytes and studied their intracellular distribution with respect to GLUT-4. VAMP-1, VAMP- 2, and cellubrevin cDNAs were isolated from a 3T3-L1 adipocyte expression library. VAMP-2 and cellubrevin were: (a) the most abundant isoforms in adipocytes, (b) detectable in all insulin responsive tissues, (c) translocated to the cell surface in response to insulin, and (d) found in immunoadsorbed GLUT-4 vesicles. To further define their intracellular distribution, 3T3-L1 adipocytes were incubated with a transferrin/HRP conjugate (Tf/HRP) and endosomes ablated following addition of DAB and H2O2. While this resulted in ablation of > 90% of the transferrin receptor (TfR) and cellubrevin found in intracellular membranes, 60% of GLUT-4 and 90% of VAMP-2 was not ablated. Immuno-EM on intracellular vesicles from adipocytes revealed that VAMP-2 was colocalized with GLUT-4, whereas only partial colocalization was observed between GLUT-4 and cellubrevin. These studies show that two different v-SNAREs, cellubrevin and VAMP-2, are partially segregated in different intracellular compartments in adipocytes, implying that they may define separate classes of secretory vesicles in these cells. We conclude that a proportion of GLUT-4 is found in recycling endosomes in nonstimulated adipocytes together with cellubrevin and the transferrin receptor. In addition, GLUT-4 and VAMP-2 are selectively enriched in a postendocytic compartment. Further study is required to elucidate the function of this latter compartment in insulin-responsive cells.     

Effects of brefeldin A on the endocytic route. Redistribution of mannose 6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptors to the cell surface.

The effect of brefeldin A (BFA) on the trafficking of the mannose 6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptor within the endocytic route was analyzed. Treatment with BFA induced a redistribution of the receptor to the cell surface and increased both the binding and internalization of ligands 2-4-fold. The effect of BFA was dose- and time-dependent and reversible. Determinations of transport rates showed that BFA increases the internalization rate and the externalization rate of the receptor. This implies that the higher surface concentration is due to higher concentrations of receptor at the intracellular sites from where they recycle to the cell surface. The effect of BFA was additive to the redistribution induced by insulin-like growth factors I and II and was observed in all human and rodent cell lines analyzed. BFA increased also the cell surface expression of the Mr 46,000 mannose 6-phosphate receptor but not of the transferrin receptor. The results indicate that BFA interferes with the transport of mannose 6-phosphate receptors and affects the endocytosis of lysosomal enzymes by increasing the number of receptors available for recycling to the cell surface.